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Business · West Richland

Amazon plans its first large-scale data centers in Washington state

Proposed campuses in Walla Walla County and West Richland would start with three buildings each. The Tri-Cities site could grow to 21 buildings.

By West Coast News staff ·
Exterior of a data center building
A data center exterior.

Amazon is moving toward its first large-scale data-center campuses in Washington, with a proposed site in Walla Walla County and another in West Richland that the company confirmed this week, GeekWire reported. Both campuses would initially include three buildings. The West Richland property covers about 1,000 acres and could eventually grow to 21 buildings. Amazon already operates smaller data centers in the state, including Seattle, and has a large footprint in Oregon.

A full West Richland build-out could create more than 1,000 full-time data-center jobs, Amazon said. Nearby residents have raised noise, power and neighborhood concerns. The West Richland City Council removed a data-center noise exemption and banned data centers in light industrial zones but did not pass a temporary moratorium, GeekWire reported. Amazon plans a community open house on Nov. 19. At Wallula Gap, only about 3 percent of 706 public comments supported the project, according to a Walla Walla Union-Bulletin analysis cited by GeekWire, with many outsiders asking for a fuller environmental review.

Amazon says it will pay full property taxes, work with utilities so bills for residents do not rise, and points to its Built Together community fund. AWS chief executive Matt Garman has warned that local moratoriums could hurt the U.S. position in AI infrastructure.

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